


good vibrations

by cosmicpoet



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Another Episode, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1980s, Concerts, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 13:45:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19929034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: Touko is a mechanic in the thick of the 1980s, who comes across a beautiful and intriguing woman, who needs help fixing her motorbike.





	good vibrations

**** Touko taps her fingers against the side of her truck, the vibrations the only indication that she exists in this space. Standing outside the venue for some band that she’s heard of, but has no interest in, she exhales cold air against the night; its magnitude of colour graces an immaterial skyline, faded, deep purple like ancient bruises ricocheting off the rest of the universe to land here, a backdrop to the first few stars.

There’s a motorbike parked right at the back of the car park, which is the main reason she’s even here in the first place - she was only driving to the store to buy essentials, but she’s never even  _ heard of  _ a piece of machinery so elaborate and beautiful, let alone seen something like it in real life. It looks like technology far beyond the 1980s.

She finds this, often - she’ll get lost in the pursuit of information about her special interest in vehicles; there’s an ache to take it apart, see how it works, fall in love with progression and technology. So far lost in her thoughts, she barely even realises that there’s a girl, with one eyebrow raised, standing right in front of her.

“S-Sorry,” Touko stutters, “I just…I l-like your motorbike.”

“Thanks!”

“W-What is it? I mean…I’ve n-never seen anything like it before!”

“It’s a custom build. I can take you for a ride if you like,” the girl smiles; her soft cheeks pushing roses up against her eyes, “I’m Komaru.”

“Touko. A-And…yes please. I’d like that.”

“Hop on,” Komaru says. There’s starlight fluttering against Touko’s lungs when she holds onto Komaru and hears the key in the ignition, signalling one…two…before the motorbike should start. Three.

“Wait, no... _ no no no _ ,” Komaru starts to panic, “this can’t be happening.”

She looks at her motorbike with eyes that act as floodgates about to burst. Complete panic turns her ghost-white, and she’s shaking as she looks up. Touko recognises the denial in her eyes.

“T-That’s okay! I’m a mechanic, so…”

“You think you can fix it here?”

“I’m sorry…I…it looks r-really complex. I could take it back to mine and fix it as soon as possible, and then bring it back to you?”

“Aw, damn. You’ll have a hard time, considering I don’t exactly know where I’ll be,” Komaru says, although it seems that she’s perked up significantly at the possibility of her motorbike being fixed at all. Touko thinks for a moment that intense emotions, by design, are terribly fleeting.

“How so?”

“I’m…from out of town,” Komaru says.

“Y-You could always…stay with me. I have a spare room in my apartment.”

“Really? Thanks, Touko! So, how we gonna get this back to yours?”

“I have a truck. It’s that one over there,” she points to the beat-up, faded truck, feeling shame wash over her. Here she is, having a semi-successful interaction with a beautiful girl, and now she has to confront the fact that, despite being a mechanic, she doesn’t exactly take the best care of her  _ own  _ vehicle. Probably something about not feeling worthy enough for-

“Woah” Komaru says, interrupting Touko’s flow of thought, “is that vintage?”

“It’s only five years old.”

“Oh, yeah sorry! I’m not the best with…judging time. But whatever, let’s get this motorbike in, right?”

Touko is about to stutter a response when she finds herself stunned into silence by the sheer beauty of Komaru lifting up the motorbike singlehandedly and placing it in the bed of the truck. 

“It’s lighter than it looks, I promise,” she laughs, and suddenly Touko wants to throw away all of her records because  _ nothing  _ will ever sound as beautiful as that ever again. With all the confidence of someone who seems the polar opposite of Touko herself, Komaru hops into the passenger seat of the truck and motions for Touko to join her.

“So, were you at the concert?”

“Yeah,” Komaru says, “it was brilliant. You like  _ Effervescent  _ too?”

“I…I’ve heard of them.”

“They’re great. I actually wanted to learn piano because of Kaede, but I’ve never been talented at much.”

“I-I find that hard to believe.”

“You flatter me,” Komaru says, resting her head against the window. Touko watches the road, as the moon follows the car to infinity, circling them in the right kind of timeline. There’s something so ethereal about Komaru, she thinks, like she’s a product of a much brighter world; the confidence within her, her spontaneity, she seems like she was supposed to drop into Touko’s life at this exact moment.

This feeling only heightens when, two days later, Komaru is standing next to her vinyl player, wearing clothes that she borrowed from Touko’s closet. The motorbike is no closer to being fixed, but Touko dreads  _ admitting  _ that to Komaru, and she’s struggling with the possibility that all of this could be for nothing, that she could let Komaru down and make yet another person hate her.

Komaru is muttering something to herself as she flicks through the records.  _ The Birthday Party, The Cure, Pixies, Violent Femmes.  _ Touko suddenly feels embarrassed of her music taste.

“It’s so cool that you’ve got all these records,” Komaru says, “mind if I put one on?”

“Go for it.”

Komaru sets the needle down onto a record, and the electronic sounds of  _ Electricity  _ fill the room as she sits on the sofa and motions for Touko to join her.

“You can’t fix it, can you?”

“I-I…I’m t-trying, I…”

“It’s fine. There’s something I haven’t told you.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not from around here.”

“I figured that.”

“I mean, I’m  _ really  _ not from around here. You’ll think I’m mental, but…I’m from the future.”

“What?”

“It’s alright if you don’t believe me. But that thing in there isn’t just a motorbike, it’s a time machine.  _ My  _ time machine. I only came back here to see  _ Effervescent  _ before they broke up, but it looks like I’m stuck. So it’s fine if you can’t fix it.”

“N-No, I can!”

“Thanks for trying, though,” Komaru mutters, “I think I’m gonna head to bed. Thanks for letting me crash on your sofa.”

“You can sleep in my bed tonight. I’ll probably be up all night working on your motor- I mean, time machine.”

“You shouldn’t do that. Wear yourself out, I mean.”

“I’ll be fine,” Touko says, walking to the garage with a familiar ache in her chest. There’s just so much going on right now. The revelation about Komaru, her own conflicting feelings that she might even name as  _ love  _ if she could find the bravery to admit that to herself. It’s times like this, this pulsating lack of control, the urge to act on impulse and do something irreversible, that she knows a shift will be coming fast in the next few moments. So, she does the only thing she feels that she has power to do, and writes everything down.

Syo, having not fronted in a few weeks, finds herself in her garage, standing in front of a motorbike. It’s the usual routine for her to front when Touko is about to do something brave or impulsive, and she’s accustomed to checking her pockets for the diary that Touko keeps about her day-to-day life; Syo uses this to update herself about what she’s missed.

Taking stock of the situation, Syo sees that there’s a time machine in front of her, and a girl in the living room that Touko has an obvious crush on. Perceptive enough to know that Touko is terrified of Komaru leaving  _ forever,  _ she picks up a hammer and drives it down hard into the machine, shattering the speedometer; and then, it’s too hard to stop. Up and down, consistently, destroying something because it feels like it’s the only thing she can do.

Artificial light floods the garage as the door opens, and Syo looks up to see Komaru holding a glass of iced tea.

“I thought I’d bring you some- wait, what are you doing?!”

Syo’s never been good at explaining things. She leaves the emotional shit to Touko, and as such, she lets her front again.

“I…Komaru…w-what?”

Touko notices the hammer in her hand, the motorbike shattered across the floor, and her eyes widen as Komaru stands there in abject confusion. She prays that it’s not betrayal she can see written across Komaru’s face. As uncomfortable as it may be, she owes it to her to explain.

“Sit down,” she says, and Komaru does, sitting cross legged next to her motorbike, holding some of the broken pieces in her hands.

“O-Okay…so…do you know what Dissociative Identity Disorder is?”

“I’ve heard of it. I don’t know much, though.”

“I’ve got it. And t-that…that was my alter. Syo. She’s…impulsive. It used to be a lot worse, but we sort of…know each other, now. She fronts when I’m feeling out of control and want to do something I wouldn’t normally.”

“Like break my time machine?”

“Yeah.”

“But why? Why did you want to do that in the first place?”

“I-I can’t say it.”

“C’mon, Touko. Please. I deserve to know.”

“F-Fine. You’re the first person who’s r-really been…nice to me. I…I don’t know if I misinterpreted it, or if it’s r-real, but I… _ I like you.  _ And I wanted you to stay. And I was thinking about how much I didn’t want you to leave, and then Syo fronted and…”

“And this happened. Right.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No…I get it. No use crying over spilled…time machine parts. It’s fixable. Might take years, though.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s no biggie. I once got stuck in Emily Dickinson’s back garden for three weeks.”

“T-That’s…”

“Great, right? Everything’s an experience! So don’t worry about it. I mean, let’s worry about it later. I’ve got you, and it’ll be fun to take a shot at living in the 80s. You looking for a roommate any time soon?”

Touko smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for an unfortunately cancelled zine all about Toukomaru! I had the honour of collabing with Candy, who did the amazing art for this piece, which you can see [here](https://twitter.com/artbycandy/status/1153345831396892672). It was truly wonderful to work with so many talented artists and writers, and I hope we can all cross paths again someday.


End file.
